What's wild?http://www.hcn.org/issues/44.21/whats-wild
I consider the recent article on wild horse management one of your best ("Nowhere to Run," HCN, 11/12/12). It seems that some people are adamant that horses have no place in the wild. Others consider them equivalent to deer, elk and other wildlife.

How long does a species have to be here to be considered native? These horses maintain their herds in a totally self-reliant way. They find feed and water, reproduce, and make it through tough winters and dry summers along with the best of wild animals. In some places, they have done so for a couple of centuries. It seems that the problem is that they sometimes out-produce their habitat. This probably happens in a worse way where there are few mountain lions or other predators that can take down the young and old.

If more population controls are needed, the new infertility shots, like those that TJ Holmes uses so successfully, will keep things in check. I for one am happy that the BLM is funding wild horse management. I have no reason to quibble about which animals are hardest on the grass: horses, cows or even sheep. Still, the overall numbers of any species must be kept in check. So thanks to all of those new dedicated managers of wild horses.

Marilyn ColyerMancos, Colorado

]]>No publisherWildlifeLetter to the editor2012/12/10 01:00:00 GMT-7ArticleThe upside of apathyhttp://www.hcn.org/issues/42.14/the-upside-of-apathy
I realize that probably over 90 percent of Americans have this affliction called nature illiteracy and I think that it is just because they do not “connect.” They are busy power walking, driving at top speed in their isolation chambers, or roaring along in the dust of an ATV or even sliding over the snow. They do not see the tracks, scats, or hear the bird chirps. They do not see the mosses nor the flowers. They certainly do not see the little flutter of insects. Nor do they care. As Donald R. Nelson says in his essay (HCN, 6/7/10), it is fine with him that he does not know about what else is there. In truth, I am sorry that so many people are this way because I believe I see some of this disregard when I hear about the terrible oil spill in the Gulf. But in another way, I am glad that thousands of people are staying at casinos, restaurants, shopping malls, etc. That means fewer are trampling and beating the wildlands to death. Fewer are scaring birds from their nests. Fewer are wreaking havoc on the deserts and forests. Marilyn ColyerMancos, Colorado